It's easy to jump on the bandwagon. Something becomes unpopular for some reason or another, and then people love to hate it.
People love to hate it, and then people come up with reasons why.
People come up with reasons why, and then they stop listening to the facts. Who wants to be confused with a little thing like facts when it's so much easier to just have faith, right?
Last but not least, when you don't simply go along with the herd and think like everyone else, you become what's known as a heretic. That makes it easy to be lonely.
What about the facts, though?
We've all seen commercials highlighting the E-Villes of big tobacco. We've all seen the big, scary warning labels and heard the horror stories about the vile poison that destroys everything it touches, seen the billboards with the creepy critters crawling out of cigarette boxes, and most of us are probably familiar with the Truth Campaign, "a generation united against tobacco." (There is another group that throws around the word truth. They also tell lies to scare the hell out of people!)
But if you can trust the media, when was the last time they told you about smoking lowering the risk of Parkinson's Disease? What about it lowering the risk of Alzheimer's? What about sharpening mental acuity? Maintaining an optimal weight? What about nicotine being useful in curing certain strains of Tuberculosis, and improving cognitive function in adults with Down's Syndrome?
Essentially, if it's a matter of health then the risks of smoking are balanced by the benefits. (Insert angry mob here.) If it's not health we're talking about, then there's still one solid argument that can't be refuted.
"My lungs. My business."